In The Past
by Broe4ever
Summary: Brady was over what happened at college, and all the reasons why he dropped out-untill the girl that made him do it comes back; until his past comes back to meet his present. Can Chloe help him deal with things, or will she end up lost in his past too? Pl
1. So What are you wearing?

"Ya want me to tell you exactly why you're pissed off at me right now," Said a feisty Chloe to Brady, who was, there are no other words for it, pissed off like hell at the moment.   
  
"Oh God Chloe, please enlighten me, I want to know exactly why I am so pissed right now, and I want you to tell me"   
  
"It's because you know I would never have sex with you." Chloe declared, extremely proud of herself for cracking the case. Of course, it was meant to be taken as a joke to lighten the situation, so to speak.  
  
Brady tried his hardest to silence his laughter, but he failed horribly.   
  
Obviously offended Chloe crossed her arms. She didn't think she had said anything funny at all. "What?!"   
  
"Chloe, what does that have anything to do with it?!" He said still laughing.   
  
"Lane, if I wanted-really wanted-to have sex with you it would only take a smile and a wink. You would follow me around like a sick puppy dog until I gave you what you wanted."   
  
"I was only joking," Chloe said embarrassed, until she realized that Brady had just thrown her a huge insult and added heatedly, "What is that shit you're talking?!"   
  
"The truth," Said Brady simply while opening a beer and turning to face her.   
  
"And that's really what you think-that I would want you like that?" Brady casually nodded and took his first sip of beer. "All right, well you just sit tight, and I'll be back in...like a few minutes," Chloe yelled over her shoulder as she ran up the penthouse steps.   
  
"I wasn't sitting," He muttered.   
  
"What was that Black?" Chloe yelled from the top of the stairs.   
  
"I was just wondering if you were going to be knitting."   
  
"Knitting? What! Have I ever knitted in my entire life?" Chloe answered, though her voice was muffled, like she was pulling something over her head.   
  
"Yeah, cause ya'know it's one of those things you do that really turns me on," Brady said laughing, she was so much fun to mess with.   
  
"You are such a jerk"   
  
"Yeah, that's what they tell me"   
  
Brady's curiosity finally broke the silence. "Chloe what are you d-" He stopped mid sentence, though, because when he turned around there she was, freshly changed, and standing face to face with him. He tried to be cool, and God how he tried not to do a head-to-toe on her, but he was a guy afterall, and that was one tight ass pair of booty shorts she was wearing, and Brady was completely oblivious to the fact that they even made shirts as short as Chloe was wearing. After a long silence Brady finished his beer, and said casually, "Now I know what to get you next Christmas"   
  
"Yeah, what's that?" Chloe whispered closing the already rapidly shrinking gap between her and Brady. Brady concealed a grin; he loved being such a tease. Slowly he lifted a hand to the side of her face, and moved her hair slightly, exposing her ear and making Chloe go numb all over. He moved his lips to her ear and whispered, "Some clothes that fit."   
  
Chloe flew backwards, extremely annoyed. "Are you telling me that this does absolutely nothing for you?!"   
  
"Not a thing," He answered picking up his empty beer can and throwing it away.   
  
"Fine, I'll be right back then." 'Oh God,' Brady prayed 'Just let her come out wearing nothing at all,' but alas, his prayers went unanswered. 5 minutes later Chloe was proudly walking down the stairs wearing-not shorty shorties, and not a skin-tight belly shirt. She was most definitely not going stark; instead she was wearing a long pair of jeans that were not, by any means, low-rise, and a turtle-neck sweater that came all the way down, showed absolutely nothing, and left everything to the imagination.   
  
"That's quite a change there Lane," Brady said, failing to keep the disappointment out of his voice.   
  
"Yeah, that'll show you to lie to me, won't it? So you seem a lot less pissed, what was that about anyway?"   
  
"Oh...nothing," He answered.   
  
"Oh come on Brady, don't try and get all mysterious with me, just tell me what put that stick up your butt-and don't say me, cause I didn't do anything."   
  
Silence   
  
"Fine, you'll tell me when that stubborn mind of yours goes on vacation, which is going to be never. So, are you still taking me to that New Year's Eve party tonight?"   
  
"Yeah, I'll take you, but only if you limit yourself to 5...maybe 6 beers."   
  
"Very funny. You know I'm underage, and besides I won't touch the stuff. Wouldn't want to end up as screwed up as you, now would I?"   
  
"Oh come on I'm not that screwed up," Brady said, defending himself. "But if you're going to go you'll want to change. Those aren't exactly party clothes, and it usually gets pretty hot at these things."   
  
"Ok, fine, but this was the last thing I had over here to wear. So unless you want me to wear the booty shorts, or what I had on earlier (not exactly party clothes either, I might add) you're going to have to take me home first to get something.   
  
"Oh, that's great, so you're going to let me be the one that tells your parents that I'm taking you to a New Year's Eve party, that I know they won't approve of?" Brady said handing Chloe her coat and walking to his jeep.   
  
"No I'll let you stay in the car. You can do the explaining when we get home at 5:30 in the morning, and I'm drunk out of my mind."   
  
"Didn't you just say something about not touching it, cause you didn't wanna end up messed up like me?"   
  
"Yeah, but I changed my mind, cause I thought it would be more fun to watch Craig and Nancy beat the shit out of you."   
"How very kind," Brady said starting the car.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Maybe it was fate being very, very kind that made Brady's cell phone ring at the exact second Chloe got out of the car. It wasn't that she would be mad, that this girl (Lindsay, I'll explain later on) was calling-afterall Brady and her weren't even going out-officially, that is. It would just make things much more...complicated.   
  
"Brady, it's me again"   
  
"Lindsay," Brady said flatly.   
  
"Yeah hey, what are you wearing?" The girl that took the name 'Lindsay' laughed.   
  
"That's not funny, why are you calling me?"   
  
"To apologize"   
  
"Again? Haven't we been down this road before? There's nothing you can say that-"   
  
"But I want you back!" Lindsay said, exasperated. "Look, I'm sorry, I like...totally wasn't thinking, and besides," Lindsay added angrily, "That happened years ago!"   
  
Brady sighed. "Why do you keep calling me? Don't you have a clue what you did to me? I'm over you, and I'm not mad at everything anymore, and I don't want anything to change that."   
  
"I keep calling because I feel bad. Like...really bad, and because I really want things to go back to the way they were, and I really want to be with you again. Look, I can deal with the fact that you don't want to accept my apology, but I'm going to be at that party tonight, so are you, and so is everyone else. I thought if I called you a couple times-"   
  
Brady interrupted, "A couple hundred times, right?"   
  
"Sorry, I thought it would make it easier for you to see me, and for me to see you again."   
  
"Well thanks for your consideration," Brady said sarcastically, "but I gotta go"   
  
"No Brady-"   
  
Click-end of conversation.   
  
'Lindsay, I won't let you ruin everything I fixed, and I won't let you ruin what's going on with me and Chloe right now either,' Brady thought as he put his head down and threw his cell phone in the back seat.   
  
"It's not going to be any easier though, I know that."   
  
"Stupid past," he muttered. 


	2. Confusing Phone Calls

Authors note: Ok, a long time ago before I watched days, my friend Ginger wanted to change her username on FF.net, but she didn't know how so she asked me if she could use my E-mail, BoogerDDog@cs.com make a new one. Of course, I didn't have any problem with this because I didn't watch days back then, and I didn't know about fanfiction. Fastforward to like a couple months ago when I was like "hmm I want to go to ff.net" but I soon realized that since Ginger was signed up here I couldn't. So I signed up on my other friend's (Taylor) E-mail address. To make a long story short, if you feel like E-mailing me for any particular reason about this fanfiction or others, E-mail BoogerDDog@cs.com, unless you want Taylor to cuss you out. Enough said  
Peace :-)  
~Chelsea- Brady Black and Chloe Lane~forever soulmates  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
Chloe happily bounded out of her house and into Brady's car carrying her party clothes. "Well, actually Craig said he wouldn't mind if I went with you to the party, as long as I stick with you. I dunno why though, he must trust you for some reason. It's strange because he never trusted Philip at all. He always told me to..." Chloe looked over at Brady as she was babbling who had his head rested on his steering wheel and realized that  
he hadn't heard a word she said.   
  
"Brady, what's wrong? What happened? Tell me," Chloe asked gently as she touched his  
arm.  
  
Brady lifted his head and quickly rubbed his eyes, though nothing had come out of   
them, it was mainly the threat that scared him. But Chloe caught it.  
  
"Oh my God Brady," she quietly exclaimed as she moved closer to him. "You're cry-"  
  
"I'm not crying Chloe," he said faintly smiling at her. "Look, there's a couple   
things I umm...haven't told you about the party tonight.  
  
Chloe looked at him skeptically, "What?"  
  
"It's not just some party in town I heard about like I kinda let you believe...well,  
ok, actually it is in town but it's a little bit..." Brady searched for words to the   
situation justice. "It's a little different"  
  
"Yeah? How so?"  
  
"Well, actually some friends of mine from college are in town," Brady ran his hand  
though his head, the words just weren't coming. "About all of them actually...are in town  
...in Salem...for New Year's"  
  
"So...you'll forgive me if I can't seem to isolate the problem, right?" Chloe asked,  
confused.  
  
"Chloe, I dropped out of college, remember? There were some definite reasons why  
too, I've just never told anyone what they were"  
  
"Right, sorry...so are you going to tell me?" She paused; she didn't want to sound  
pushy. She knew what it was like to have someone badgering you to tell them something, when  
it was the last thing you wanted to do. "You don't have to," she added quickly.  
  
Brady started his car. "So we have about 7 hours before party time, what do you want  
to do? Basketball? Dotcom?"  
  
"Dotcom I guess, it's too cold for basketball" So apparently that was a 'No, Chloe,  
I'm not going to tell you' in disguise.  
  
"Well, pick out something to listen too," Brady said tossing Chloe his CD   
collection like he had done so many times before.  
  
"Bought anything new lately?"   
  
"CDs right? Uh yeah, I just got Lifehouse...The Calling... and something else.  
  
As Chloe flipped absentmindedly though the CDs, Brady's ears caught something hers  
didn't. Thinking about it, he didn't want her to hear it, because then he would have to   
explain, and that would take far to long.  
  
Brady coughed loudly to cover the second ring of his phone-his phone that would  
undoubtedly have Lindsay on the other end if he picked up. He coughed again.  
  
Chloe looked up, "Brady are you ok?"  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, just have a bit of a cold I gue-*COUGH*"  
  
"No, wait a minute, I think I hear something...that's your phone, isn't it?"  
  
"Are you sure you're hearing something? Maybe it's just your ima-*COUGH*"  
  
Chloe looked at him. What was he trying to cover up? "No...that's your phone, I'm   
positive...I'll get it for you," she said with a dive behind her seat to retrieve the   
ringing phone.  
  
"Chloe, NO, Don't answer that," he demanded looking at her from the road, and   
slowing down his car.   
  
"But it could be important," Chloe said raising her eyebrow, and clicking the send  
button.  
  
"It's not, trust me," He said even though he had heard her answer the phone, and   
he knew it was too late.  
  
"Hello...I'm Chloe...No, I'm just his friend..." Chloe looked up at Brady, without  
a clue in hell who she was talking to, and why she was being so demanding. "Lindsay?...no,   
he never told me about you..."  
  
With that, Brady laid on his breaks and glanced quickly at Chloe. He made up his   
mind, he was going to tell her everything, and he sure as hell didn't want her to hear it  
from that witch on the other end of the phone line. "Chloe hang up NOW," he demanded.  
  
Chloe was so confused. Brady had never been so demanding before, it had to be   
important. She was torn too though. She was torn between listening to Brady and listening  
to what Lindsay was going to tell her, so she just looked at Brady and held the phone kind  
of halfway away from her ear.  
  
"Chloe, I'm not joking, just give me the phone," He said bringing his jeep to a   
complete stand still in the middle of the road.  
  
"Here," She finally consented handing him the phone, which he hung it up immediately.  
He sighed in relief, and, as if he was the only person in the car, said to his phone "And  
the power goes off"  
  
"Brady, who exactly was that," Chloe said with the same look she had on when she   
answered the phone.  
  
Brady started his car again and as the radio started playing said, "I need to   
find somewhere to pull off, I need to tell you everything that happened, and you   
sure as hell deserve as explanation as to why you had to talk to that bitch for a full   
3 minutes" He reached over for her wrist and checked her pulse "Well, you're a strong person   
Chloe, you managed to stay alive." 


	3. The Story

Brady pulled his jeep off the road. He flipped off his radio and even pulled out his keys. "Ok, I've never told anyone this before, and it's a long story, so can you please just let me say it all at once? I've never explained it all, and it's going to be hard"  
  
"Ok, I'm listening," Chloe answered, preparing herself for whatever it was he was going to tell her.  
  
"When I first came to Salem I was all distant, and I was mad at eveything, do you remember that?" Brady sighed, he didn't want an answer, but rather a good way to start the story. Chloe was so amazing through the whole thing. She inturupted only with a nod here and there, or a sudden reach out to her friend.  
  
"I had a lot of reasons to be so mad, but Marlena and everthing here was such a small part of them. Most of them had to do with what happened at college. The first 3 people I met were Lindsay-you talked to her on the phone, Blair, and a guy named Patrick. Blair and I hung out a lot. We went out for a while too, she actually reminds me a lot of you." He paused in this point of his story to look at Chloe. Her eyes were glued to him, and she was taking in every sigle word he said with an amazing deal of understanding, and compassion. She nodded, singnaling for him to continue. "Blair and Lindsay were best friends, can't figure out exactly why though, they were so different...Stupid me had to fall for Lindsay, and God did I fall hard. Blair and I became best friends imediatley after we stopped seeing each other. We talked about absolutely everything that went on. If I would have stayed with her-none of this other stuff would have ever happened," Brady finished the last part quietly as he ran his hand through his hair.  
  
"Go on," Chloe whispered, gentely touching his arm.  
  
"Patrick and Lindsay were together when I first met them, but as soon as Lindsay and I met we felt drawn to eachother for some reason. We spent every waking moment together until halfway through my second year there. I was so in love with her, it was completely blinding to both of us, and we couldn't see what was really happening. We had a future mapped out together exactly as we wanted it to happen. After we finished school, we were getting married imediately, and going to live in a big city-she liked the idea of LA for a while. We wanted to have the experience of living in a city like that, but we were only planning to live like that for a couple years. She wanted to move someplace small to have our 2 kids-she wanted to adopt one of them too.  
  
"Why adopt?"  
  
Brady had almost forgotten that Chloe was in the car, he looked over at her suprised. "She had a sister that was adopted-I guess she just liked the idea. She wanted lots of animals too-horses, dogs, cats, birds, rats, you name it, she wanted it." Brady laughed remembering. "She wanted a snake too, except she didn't want to have to feed it live animals. I remember her dragging me to every pet store in town looking for a vegetarian snake. I was totally for everything she wanted too, I didn't care about anything, except that we would be together-and be happy. It was so horrible the day it all crashed down. I remember exactly the way it happened. Everything started completely normal, we were going out for dinner, cause it was Saturday and that's just usually what we did on Saturdays. We sat down, just like you would think people would do, and she looked at me and said so simply 'I think we should get married now.' I don't know what changed with her, or if anything had changed at all. She said she was tired of waiting, and she wanted to do everything now. I knew I wanted to marry her, 'cause I loved her, but my mind imediatly told me to say no. I did it as gently as I could, so I wouldn't hurt her. I don't know exactly what went through her head, but her eyes sure did tell a hell of a story. It was an amazing look that she gave me. Basically every emotion you can think of all flashing at the same time. Everything finally subsided, and her eyes went bak to normal, but I could tell she wanted something. She wanted revenge."  
  
"Why? What did you do that was so horrible that she wanted revenge on you?"   
  
"I just hurt her, I guess when I said 'no', she figured that I didn't love her as much as I said I did. She never meant to do something so big to get back at me, I have to believe that, but it turned out huge. After we were done eating, she told me she wanted to go to Blair's apartment, which was weird because Blair was out of town visiting some family." Brady quickly glanced at Chloe. "Are you getting all this?"  
  
Chloe didn't even break her stare to nod at him.  
  
"Good. OK, I had a roommate named Johnathan. We went to boarding school together, and we knew eachother for a while." Brady picked up his cell phone and started playing with it-tossing it around anything to keep from looking directly at Chloe. "Johnathan and Blair had gotten close so I wasn't that suprised when his car was there. What did surprise me though was that she told me to go back, and that he would take her home. Of course I had to come back to check on her, it was getting late." Brady stopped his story and looked at Chloe. "You know how this story ends don't you?"  
  
"You walked in, didn't you?"  
  
Brady hid all his emotions so well. He had done it so many times that now, it was as simple as turning off a light, or closing a door. "Yup, I walked in. Ya'know Chloe, she was pracitally my finace, and all she wanted was revenge. Here I was thinking I was in love, and that Johnathan was a friend of mine."  
  
"So, you left after that?"  
  
"No, I stuck around, but it was just to hard. I wasn't even expecting to leave the day I did, I just packed up and left. I didn't even say goodbye to anyone. I've been thinking about it, and I know I was naive and I know I was stupid-but what I realize now, is that being so naive, it was pure bliss."  
  
"Brady, I'm so sorry." Chloe rested her head on his shoulder, and felt all the pain that he had put in his past a long time ago.  
  
"Well, that's the end...come on Chloe, don't feel so bad."  
  
"I'm sorry I just never realized that THAT was your story. I mean, that was huge!"  
  
"Yeah, it was a biggie wasn't it?"  
  
Chloe grinned, "Anything else you forgot to tell me?"  
  
"Well actually, you know how earlier when I said that thing you were wearing wasn't doing anything for me? Ok, that was such a lie," Brady said grinning.  
  
Chloe leaned into him and kissed him softly. "I already knew that Black." 


	4. The Best Deceptions

Author's note: The song is called "The Best Deceptions" and it's by an awesome band by the name of "Dashboard Confessional" (the CD is called 'The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most', and you should really go buy it, cause it rocks :D)  
PS: you guys really didn't think I would have ended this last chapter did you? I gotta put Brady and Chloe through a whole crap load of more stuff before I finish it :D  
~~~~~~~~~  
"So this is the place?" Chloe asked stepping out of Brady's car.  
  
"It's the address Patrick gave me, so I'm assuming it's the right place." Brady put him arm around Chloe's waist and walked her to the door. He lifted his hand to knock on it, but it swung open before he could pound on it."  
  
"Brady, good to see ya again!"  
  
Chloe let her mind wonder as Brady talked to his old friend. She looked around the room and it suddenly occurred to her how many people for were there, that she didn't know any of them, and that they were all 3-4 years older than she was.  
  
"Come on Chloe," She heard Brady say.  
  
"Oh right, so who was that?"  
  
"That was Patrick, he is one of the few people you will meet her that isn't a total ass hole"  
  
Chloe laughed. "He seemed nice enough, so are you going to tell me who everyone is?"  
  
"Ok, well the guy over there talking to those 3 girls is Jonathan, and the girls he's talking to are some friends of Lindsay's. Yeah, you should stay clear of them, they'll be mean-Lindsay probably has their minds poisoned."  
  
"Gee, open mined aren't we? Who is safe to hang out with?"  
  
"Me of course!"  
  
Chloe put her hands on her hips. "Oh, get over yourself! I didn't come to this party to hang out with you, Lord knows I do enough of that already."  
  
"Ok fine, I would find Blair for you, but I don't see her anywhere," Brady said wildly looked around the room for any sign of her. He finally gave up and sighed. "All right, Sarah over there with the red hair, she's nice and she's the youngest person here-just turned 19.   
Patrick's cool, he'll talk to you. There's a guy, Ian, over there, he's nice and you should have a lot in common.... yeah, that's it."  
  
"Are you expecting me to believe that out of all the people here, those are the only ones that will talk to me?"  
  
"Don't take it personally. These are Lindsay's friends, she's not a nice person, and she doesn't have nice friends." He looked at Chloe, who was scanning the room, dead-set on finding someone nice that Brady hadn't pointed out. "Well, what are you waiting for?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Didn't you just say that you wanted to find some other people to hang out with?"  
  
"Right, about that..."  
  
Brady laughed; he sure as hell wanted to know what exactly was going on with him and Chloe. He looked at her, and tried to read her mind-which he was usually quite good at-but it wasn't working this time, he just had too many other things to think about. God she was beautiful tonight. Suddenly, he realized that they were standing completely still. "Come on Chloe, are you hungry?"  
  
"No...remember how we ate before we came here..."  
  
"Right, thirsty?" Brady didn't wait for an answer. "I am."  
  
"Nervous?"  
  
"A little, I wish Blair was here, I haven't talked to her in ages."  
  
Chloe tried hard to keep her smile from fading. "Yeah, I would have liked to meet her"  
  
"You'll probably be able to, Patrick said she was in town with everyone else. If she comes, she'll come at midnight, and then leave a little after."  
  
Chloe's thoughts danced wildly though her head 'Midnight? New Year's, midnight, the other girl, this doesn't mix' "How about I'll take you up on that drink you wanted?"  
  
Brady grinned. "You don't drink Chloe"  
  
And that was the very second Chloe saw Patrick open the door. In her mind, everything seemed slow motion-or maybe the girl just wanted it to look that way. The girl-it was stupid to think of her like that, it was obviously Lindsay. Chloe suddenly realized how huge this was for Brady. She had never wanted to see him hurt, but she had never hated the idea more than she did that that second, and what really ripped her insides apart, was that she knew she could do nothing to stop it. She saw Lindsay touch Brady's arm, she heard her whisper his name, she heard the countdown to midnight begin, and she knew that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop anything from happening. She closed her eyes, at the '3, 2, 1' part, but she still saw them kiss.   
  
I heard about your trip  
I heard about your souvenirs  
I heard about the cool breeze and the cool nights and the cool guys  
That you spent them with  
I guess I should have heard of them from you  
I guess I should have heard of them from you   
Don't you see, don't you see that the charade is over?  
And all the 'best deceptions'   
And the 'clever cover story' awards go to you  
So kiss me hard   
Cause this will be the last time that I let you  
You will be back some day  
And this awkward kiss that tells of other people's lips  
Will be of service to keeping you away  
I heard about your regrets  
I heard that you were feeling sorry  
I heard from someone that you wish you could set things right between us  
I guess I should have heard of them from you  
I guess I should have heard of them from you  
Don't you see, don't you see that the charade is over?  
And all the 'best deceptions'   
And the 'clever cover story' awards go to you  
So kiss me hard   
Cause this will be the last time I let you  
You will be back someday   
And this awkward kiss that screams of peoples lips   
Will be of service to keeping you away  
To keeping you away  
I'm waiting for blood to flow to my fingers  
I'll be all right when my hands get warm  
Ignoring the phone  
I'd rather say nothing  
I'd rather you never heard my voice  
You're calling to late, too late to be gracious  
And you do not warrant long good-byes  
You're calling too late   
You're calling too late   
You're calling too late 


	5. After the Dream

Chloe was in a cute little pink car floating on a cloud. Just drifting further and further from the earth below. Brady was there too, except he was in his jeep. They had both started out in the VW Beetle, but Brady said it was making him uncomfortable and so she summoned his car for him. She was getting tired of driving alone though, and she missed Brady's company. He would come to her if he knew how much she wanted to be with him...  
  
"Chloe, it's time to leave wake, up."  
  
"Leave?" She sleepily mumbled. "No, I don't wanna leave yet, come ride in my car, it won't hurt you."  
  
Back in the real world Brady and Blair were trying as hard as they could to get Chloe awake and off the couch, where she had fallen asleep earlier. Brady was trying a bit harder though; Blair seemed frightened and uncomfortable by the whole situation though.  
  
"Brady, why don't you just carry her, she seems a little...eh...drunk," Blair said after prodding the sleeping Chloe and backing away.  
  
"No, I want to wake her up, and find out exactly what happened to her, before I take her home and get myself killed by her parents." He positioned himself over her head and gently tried to shake her out of her sleep. "Chloe...Chloe wake up."  
  
Chloe groaned. Slowly she found herself being pulled out of her world of floating pink cars and fluffy clouds, and arriving in a dirty house with two people standing over her. A feeling of confusion accompanied her headache. "Brady??" She guessed out loud as the room began to come into focus. "What happened?"  
  
"Chloe, what did you drink when I was with Blair?"  
  
"What, you think I'm drunk now?"  
  
"Well I never said that, but..."  
  
"Good, because I'm not. All I had was whatever they gave me."  
  
"Whatever who gave you?"  
  
Chloe rolled her eyes, and tried her luck at sitting up. "The people that were giving me stuff!"  
  
Brady reached out to steady her as she sat up. "So you are drunk then, right?"  
  
"Yeah, you're right I am," She agreed, and then after thinking added, "My parents are going to murder you, ya'know."  
  
"I would deserve it too, this is Blair by the way," He said motioning to the girl that was standing beside him.  
  
'Of all the times to meet somebody that you will eventually be competing with,' Chloe thought trying her best to fix her hair, even though she knew that no matter what she did she was still drunk, and Blair was still looking a whole hell of a lot better than she was. "I'm Chloe...it's good to meet you." She wasn't exactly sure whether or not to add an 'I've heard so much about you', it didn't seem quite appropriate seeing as to how she was having trouble standing up at the minute.  
  
Blair looked to Brady for guidance. "Um...it's good to meet you too..."  
  
Chloe looked around the room, she soon learned that the wonderful thing about being drunk was a total lack of self-consciousness, and the absence of that little thing inside your brain that tells you whether or not something was good to say. "Well, this is a bit awkward huh?" She looked at Brady. "So Brady, how was kissing Lindsay again?" Blair's mouth fell open as she stared at Brady.  
  
"Chloe, we'll talk about that later when your ability to speak without slurring returns, ok? We've got to go home now."  
  
"Wow, it was that good huh?"  
  
And with that Brady swooped Chloe off the couch and walked to the door as dignified as possible, considering he was carrying a drunk Chloe on his shoulders.  
  
Patrick opened the door for them without asking any questions, though he did look a bit confused. "I'll guess I'll see ya later Brady, and um bye Chloe." He was answered by her jabbering something about a pick car and some clouds.  
  
Blair followed the duo to Brady's car, and waited while he laid Chloe on the seat and slammed the door. "You kissed Lindsay?!" She hissed.  
  
"She kissed me, but I'll tell you about it later." And leaving her with a kiss on the cheek, Brady was in his car, and before she knew it he was gone.  
  
~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Chloe, I'm going to take you to the penthouse to avoid getting killed by your parents, even though I should be for not watching you."  
  
"Yeah," She murmured absent-mindedly starting out his window. She looked at him; "You've been drunk before right?"  
  
Brady grinned, "Chloe, do you seriously have to ask?"  
  
"So this is what it's like afterwards." It wasn't a question, but a statement.  
  
"Well Chloe, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but you're still quite drunk my friend."  
  
"No, I mean I don't remember much, my head hurts, and I don't really care that much." She looked at him. "So that's what it's like after the dream fades away." 


	6. The Best Night and the Shadow

Chloe woke up with a headache, and a shirt that wasn't hers. Looking around she realized she was in a bed that wasn't hers either, the room seriously lacked her feminine touch, and she was quite positive that HER room had no basketball hoop hanging on the door. As a matter of fact, she would be willing to bet her life that she didn't normally spend the night with someone of the opposite sex. Things were, quite obviously, not right. The smart thing to do now, it seemed, would be to find out exactly who was sleeping beside her. She sat up and quickly eyed her surroundings suspiciously. Considering how oddly familiar the room was beginning to look, she decided to take a glance at the guy still sleeping beside her. She bit her lip, and suddenly her companion was awakened by an earsplitting, "HOLY SHIT!!!!"  
  
In a matter of the 2 seconds it took to yell 'holy shit' he was completely awake from his not-so-dreamless sleep with an equally loud cry of, "Holy God!! What the hell?!"  
  
Chloe looked sheepishly at her mate and covered her mouth. "Oh sorry Brady, I didn't recognize you there for a minute."  
  
"That's perfectly all right Chloe," Brady said sitting up and catching his breath. "Scared the hell out of me though."  
  
Suddenly things became clear to Chloe. Going by the fact that she was wearing his shirt, and that she woke up beside him, she and Brady had obviously had sex the night before, and just knowing that was making her grin. Her headache now forgotten, she edged closer to him and ran her hand through his hair. She found a spot on the base of his neck, and tenderly kissed it. Slowly she slid beside behind him without a word and started concentrating on his shoulders. She rubbed them up and down, kissed them, all the while in a state of unnatural bliss.  
  
Brady let out the smallest of moans and opened his eyes. Somehow, he felt some sort of...eh...obligation to do the right thing. He cursed himself for having a conscience, and let himself enjoy 3 more seconds of Chloe before his idiot conscience kicked in. "Um, Chlo? Not that I'm complaining, but what exactly are you doing?"  
  
"I figure I should at least be able to remember some of the best night of my life, right?" Chloe traced a path leading from shoulder to shoulder with her finger, and sealed every step of it with a kiss, while letting the nails on her other hand gently trail up and down along his side.  
  
"Well, I guess that's one way to get over a hangover...eh...what do YOU think happened last night?"  
  
Chloe stopped immediately and realized that she didn't have the slightest clue. "Um, I don't remember, but I kinda figured...well I kinda figured...yeah..." She trailed off embarrassed, and dropped her hands.  
  
"And THAT would be the best night of your life, huh?"  
  
Chloe felt her face get hot, and she knew she was blushing like crazy. She thanked the Lord she was facing his back, and put on her best laugh. "Riiiight, get over yourself for once Brady."  
  
"Ok sorry, but are you honestly telling me you don't remember what you put me through last night, Lane?"  
  
Chloe's face fell, what had she done? "No, what?"  
  
"It was hell to get you in bed Chloe. You point blank refused to sleep in Belle's room; you wouldn't let me sleep on the couch, on the floor or anywhere else for that matter. You wanted me to sleep in my bed, and you wanted to sleep there too."  
  
Chloe grinned. "Did I? Wow, I'm fun when I'm drunk, huh?"  
  
"Fun? Right, it was 3:00 in the morning when I finally convinced you to wear my shirt to bed. You went right to sleep as soon as your head hit the pillow...of course that was at 4:20.  
  
"Why were you so intent on getting me in your shirt anyway? Ya think it's sexy?"  
  
"No, I was trying to get you in A shirt, you didn't want to wear anything. I figured if we were going to 'sleep together' you should wear something or else I might..." Brady trailed off and scratched his head. He had come so close to finishing that sentence it scared him.  
  
"What did you tell my parents to keep them from killing you?"  
  
"Told em you were sleeping over with Belle, because you were too tired to go home."  
  
"And, while we're covering everything I can't remember, what happened about Lindsay?"  
  
"What exactly do you want to know?"  
  
"Don't be a jerk, I want to know what happened when you kissed her," Chloe said holding her breath and just hoping.  
  
"Well nothing actually. And SHE kissed me, I wasn't involved in it, except like the song says, that awkward kiss would keep her away."  
  
"I think you're lying, something happened."  
  
"I told her I wasn't interested and that it didn't matter what she did, it wouldn't change anything that happened before. So she left...she was pretty damn pissed off though, she was positive that she was going home with me."  
  
Chloe let out her breath slowly. She couldn't have hoped for better. "Oh," she said simply.  
  
"Um, hey Chloe, I don't know how appropriate this is considering the situation, but you wanna see a movie or get dinner sometime...like tonight if that works for you..."  
  
Chloe covered her mouth and gasped. "Oh my God, Brady you're asking me out aren't you?" She jumped off the bed and landed in front of where Brady sat. "Ha! You asked me out, you wanna date me!"  
  
"Date you? Right Lane, and ya'know what? My offer is now, officially, off the table."  
  
Chloe stopped waving her arms in a victory dance and dropped them by her sides. "Off the table? For good?"  
  
"Ha! I was right, you DO wanna go out with me!" Brady turned around, grinning wildly, and began HIS victory dance.  
  
Chloe scrunched up her nose, she hated being tricked. She ran straight at him, and jumped on his back, pummeling him with punches. "Brady Black, you are one mean little..."  
  
"Ok, ok stop it, that hurts!" He said even though it was smiling and laughing. "All right, I'm sorry, ok?"  
  
Chloe fell from his back and snorted. "Sorry? That's it?" Brady nodded. "You don't have anything to ask me now??"  
  
"Ask you...?"  
  
Chloe squinted her eyes and prepared herself for another attack. "You have 5 more seconds to make everything right, and I'm counting now."  
  
"Right...soooooo ya wanna go see a movie with me or something tonight?"  
  
Chloe grinned and slapped him across the chest just for the fun of it. "Of course I will."  
  
  
They spent every second they could together for the next 2 glorious months. By the end of the first week together they had quite possibly gone every where there is to go in Salem together. It was bliss, but it had a constant shadow looming over it, at least the way Chloe saw it, Brady enjoyed the Shadow's company. It wasn't that Chloe didn't like Blair, (the Shadow as she was called in her mind and under her breath) she liked her a lot, but jealously can be hard to handle. She was always calling them when they were out together, and Chloe found herself waiting in the car while Brady was inside with The Shadow a lot. A day together rarely went uninterrupted by Blair. Brady never seemed to mind seeing her, she was afterall, his 'former' Best friend.  
  
"I'm just going to check my messages from here ok?" Brady yelled up Chloe's stairs as she put on her finishing touches.  
  
"No, Brady don't," Chloe whined stumbling down the stairs. "We'll be late."  
  
"We will not, I'll check them right now, I probably don't even have any."  
  
"Nooooo, Brady, she'll have a message on there, you know she will..."  
  
"Come on Chlo, please?"  
  
Chloe sighed and mentally prepared for a night at home alone, while Brady went to save Blair from whatever crisis was new this week. "Fine, go ahead."  
  
There was a long pause as Brady dialed his number and listened to his messages. Chloe could read him perfectly when he came to 'that message'. She didn't even wait until he was done; she just took off her coat, and began making her way upstairs.  
  
"Chloe, where ya goin'? Put your coat back on, or we WILL be late."  
  
Chloe looked at him skeptically, and tried not to smile at the pleasant surprise. "But that was Blair wasn't it? She wants you to come over doesn't she?"  
  
"She does, but tomorrow night, and both of us. She's throwing a going away party for herself."  
  
"Going away?" Chloe said, trying and failing miserably to conceal her grin.  
  
Brady couldn't help smiling at his girlfriend's joy. "Yeah she's leaving this week, I coulda' sworn I told you that...anyway don't look so relieved, she liked you, what can I say?" Brady said shrugging and walking out side.  
  
"Well no matter how much she likes me, she likes you a whole hell of a lot better," Chloe mumbled to her door as she shut it. 


	7. It's Her

Author's note: The song is by Lifehouse, it's called Breathing. I also changed my summary, I like this one better :) Happy reading!  
~Chelsea_Broefan ;)  
Brady Black and Chloe Lane-Eternal soulmates  
  
'Brady loves me, Brady loves me, Brady loves me,' Chloe reassured herself in time to the music on her radio. 'So why am I driving to this party alone? So why did he come to Blair's house four hours before it starts? So why does he continue to ditch me for 'The Shadow'?' Chloe shook her head and turned up her radio for the third time to drown out her doubts and fears. She checked her makeup again in the rear-view mirror, and said a loud this time, to calm herself, "Brady loves me."   
  
So this was the torture she got for doing everything she had done hurting him in the past. God, she hated it. She hated what her mind was doing to her. Making her wonder what Brady and Blair did while they were alone, making her wonder if Brady was always thinking about Blair when he was with her. She turned her radio volume up another notch. She tapped her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, though she had nothing to be impatient about. Checking her watch, she wondered why she had chosen to leave her house so early. She still had another thirty minutes before the party started, what was she going to do for another thirty minutes, with Blair's house being five minutes away? Did she want to walk in on something happening between them? As she stopped at a red light, she turned up her radio again.  
  
"Hey lady," yelled a driver stopped beside her.  
  
Chloe poked her head out of her open window. "Yeah?"  
  
"Ya think you could have you music any louder?"  
  
Chloe cranked the knob again, only to find that it just didn't go any further. She laughed. "Sorry!"  
  
"Don't worry about it," The driver said grinning as the light turned green.  
  
So there she was, stopped at a green light, with twenty minutes to kill. She cruised around town until she only had fifteen minutes, bought a soda until it was ten, fixed her perfect hair until it was five, and waited outside the house until she was late.   
  
It was obviously going to be a big party. Cars were parked on her lawn like it was some huge concert they were going to. She tried to no avail to find something to do in the car that would justify her being late. Not that it would matter; no one seemed to notice Brady's girlfriend, NOT showing up. As Chloe glanced at her cell phone, it seemed like Brady didn't notice either. She tried again to turn up her radio, and started biting her nails, something she almost never did. Suddenly furious with herself, she turned off her radio, and yanked her keys out of the ignition. She stepped out of her car, and curiously looked around. Every step to the door was pure pain and fear. What if something horrible was in the making for tonight? The 'what ifs' drowned out her normal common sense, and reason. She opened the door for herself without knocking.  
  
There he was. Perfect in every way, wearing a huge grin, and with her. He was happy with her. The music made it impossible to hear anything but the music it self, and even that was difficult. Brady still hadn't noticed her standing behind him, even after Blair excused herself to go to the bathroom. (Either that, or she had to 'Go get a big broom', it was questionable, because of the music, like I said.)   
  
Chloe stepped directly behind Brady, and turned him around to face her. He was different...surprised to see her, but maybe not exactly...overjoyed.  
The music droned on.  
~~  
I'm finding my way back to sanity again   
Though I don't really know what I'm gonna do when I get there  
Take a breath and hold on tight  
Spin around one more time and  
Gracefully fall back to the arms of grace  
~~  
"Is it selfish of me to ask you to choose right now?" Chloe whispered.  
  
Brady avoided her question, and her eyes. "We should dance to this song."  
~~  
I am hanging on every word you say  
And even if you don't want to speak tonight  
That's alright, alright with me  
'Cause I want nothing more than  
To sit outside heaven's door   
And listen to you breathing  
It's where I want to be  
~~  
"I want to dance so much Brady, but I don't want to be second to anyone." Chloe closed her eyes, and hoped to God that she was wrong about what she already knew he would say. "Just, please end my misery. I can't stand it anymore..."  
  
Brady dropped his eyes; he wouldn't have to say anything.  
  
She tried her best to smile when she felt the tears on her cheeks. She made no effort to wipe them away, suddenly she and Brady were the only two people in the entire world, and she felt completely justified to cry. She lifted a hand to her face and covered her mouth. "Oh my God...it's her isn't it?" Then, raising the hand to her forehead whispered to herself, "It's her..."  
~~  
Looking past the shadows of my mind  
Into the truth and I'm trying to identify the voices in my head  
God, which one's you?  
Let me feel you one more time  
What it feels like to feel and  
Break these calluses off of me  
One more time  
~~  
Brady looked up at her, and took her wrists in his hands. "Chloe, I don't want to hurt you, but you don't understand."  
  
"Well make me understand, force me to!" Chloe yelled, ripping her hands from Brady's grasp, and earnestly gripped them around his wrists.  
  
"Blair and I were together through toughest times in my life, Chloe, she was totally, and completely there for me...always. I didn't think I still felt so connected to her like this, but obviously I do."  
  
"But what about our connection? What about you being there for me, and our souls??" Chloe frantically uttered her cries, and touched his face. She was losing...  
  
"Chloe, don't do this," He whispered, pulling away from her touch, and closing both of her hands inside his.  
  
"Don't do this, Brady?" Chloe shook her head in disbelief, and threw up her arms. She lost. She kissed him on the cheek, and he backed away. It was killing her-just the thought of him being uncomfortable when she kissed him was unbearable. She turned away from him, and suddenly the eyes of the crowd appeared again, suddenly she felt like her own private hell was a public record.  
~~  
I am hanging on every word you say and   
Even if you don't want to speak tonight  
That's alright, alright with me  
'Cause I want nothing more than  
To sit outside heaven's door and listen to you breathing  
It's where I want to be  
~~  
Now aware of the fact that everyone had been watching her, she still didn't care. She left her pride on the floor, and taking the risk of breaking her ankle, ran as fast as she could out of the room, on the street, and finally in her car. The last chorus of "Breathing" still echoing through the halls of her racing mind, she started her car, put her heart on the wheel, and her soul on the gas. "Dammit!" She cried when she realized that they were taking her directly to the penthouse. She told them both the shut up, locked them away for the time being, and put her brain in charge of everything. Her brain took her out of Salem, across the stateline, and one-week and gallons of gas later, straight into LA. 


	8. Mourning Glory

Author's Note: The song I used is called "Mourning Glory" and it's by me.   
Changed the rating to R for language.  
Chelsea_Broefan ;)  
  
So it was a stupid thing to do. So it was a stupid decision to make, unthought out, and really, truly, just plain stupid. Chloe looked around a town that she had never been to in her entire life. It was a big town. She got out of her car, taking no effort to wipe her eyes, and tried as hard as she could to look like she knew what she was doing. She walked fast, and made herself believe that she knew exactly where she was and where she was going. She sped by the entire city like a gust of wind, but something caught the corner of her eye, and she stopped in the middle of the crowded sidewalk. A small handwritten sign called to her, and she walked to it like she was in a trance.   
  
'Open Mike Night'   
  
No one else was paying it any attention. Chloe looked into the old, clouded, window, but she couldn't see anything. The door opened, and suddenly a girl with short, black hair stood in front of her.   
  
"Well, are you coming in, or are you just gonna stand there and look inside." The girl put her hands on her hips, and flipped her hair, when Chloe said nothing. "Well??"  
  
Chloe wiped her eyes, suddenly aware that she had been crying for a week straight. She looked down at the floor and nodded. "Can you get stuff to eat here?"  
  
"I don't work here, but I'll tell you that they make one hell of a cup of coffee. You look depressed; you came to the right place." The girl that didn't work in the coffeehouse continued to act like she did, and escorted Chloe to the tables and huge couch in front of the stage. "You sing?" She asked.  
  
"Um, no," Chloe lied, suddenly self-conscience.  
  
"Well, come in and sit down then."   
  
"Uh thanks..." Chloe looked around the dirty joint, and suddenly felt even more stupid than she did when she first found herself in the city. She watched everyone come up to the mike, one by one, and listening carefully to everything they said or sang. 15 minutes later, she found herself on the front sofa, with a cup of coffee, understanding everything they were saying, and crying uncontrollably all over again.   
  
"That was a really nice set," Chloe said through sobs to a man coming off the small stage.  
  
He stopped in front of her and smiled. "Thanks, but it was just one song, so it wasn't exactly a set." He laid his guitar on the couch beside her, and sat down. "Who let you in here, anyway kid? Must be one kick ass fake-ID you got."  
  
"What?!" Chloe looked up at him with her huge blue eyes, and started sobbing all over again. "I'm sorry, I'll leave...no one told me...the girl just let me in...and, I don't have, don't have, don't have a fake-" And she was collapsed in the guys arms, just like that.  
  
"Whoa...I was only um, playing with ya," He awkwardly patted Chloe's head, and rubbed a little too, just for good-luck. "It's just a lame coffee place, you don't gotta be 18 or 21 or anything..."  
  
Chloe sniffed and lifted her head, still hanging on the guitar guy. "Oh."  
  
"Do you sing or anything?"  
  
"Yeah, a little...what's you name?"  
  
"I'm Mark. Ya wanna go on stage?"  
  
"Yeah, but I don't wanna go alone...I'm Chloe by the way."  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
*Note-5 years have passed*  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It was amazing to watch her. You could never forget that thrill. She sat hunched over her guitar, an extension to her soul, and she poured herself out until she was empty. She always sang to the crowd like they weren't even there. She blocked them out completely, and played with the hope that somehow she was reaching him. Wherever he was, whomever he was with, she just wanted to reach him. Now especially. She began playing, softly at first, and sang to the crowded room, in front of no one at all.  
  
  
I can't sleep and I don't mind  
I don't eat and I don't care  
And you haunt me everywhere  
You live lost within my mind  
For me to find, you're still lost for me to find  
  
I would lie down on the ground  
'Would lay down at your door, and I would wait  
'Till the sun rises and that ground takes me  
And I would have to leave  
  
I will wait 'till morning comes  
To last, but it won't last  
And for you, but you won't come to me  
And then...  
It's dark again  
  
I would thank you if I could  
I would kiss you'd if you let me  
'Wait out all eternity for you, curled at you feet  
I might not wanna leave  
  
I would wait 'till morning comes  
To last, but it won't last  
And for you, but you won't come to me  
And then...  
It's dark again  
  
I might forgive you if I saw you  
But I might forget about us yet  
And I might run away   
This time I might not run to you  
  
I could wait 'till morning comes  
To last, but it won't last  
And for you, but you won't come to me  
And then...  
It's dark again  
  
Like a Morning Glory  
I could wait in all my splender  
But only for some hours and then I would be gone  
And you were like some mourning glory  
In your silence, in your shelter  
I would watch you as you would drift away  
My Mourning Glory  
  
I might wait 'till morning comes  
To last, but it won't last  
And for you, but you won't come to me  
And then...  
It's dark again  
And I am gone, I am gone, I've been waiting all night  
And I am gone, I am gone I'll put my beauty into flight  
I am but a Mourning Glory, I am gone  
  
Chloe finished the last chorus softly, and let the final ring of her chord echo though the stunned, familiar coffeehouse. It was really packed tonight. Somehow, she figured her name had gotten around.  
  
"Chloe! Good show, would you just all at all the people here?!"  
  
Chloe grinned, and glanced around again. "Thanks Mark." She hugged him. "Thanks for coming too, not like you've ever not come, but still, thanks…I'm just going to the bathroom, fix my makeup or something..."  
  
Mark watched Chloe disappear in the hallway, and marveled at everyone who had come to know her name. From where he stood, he was catching bits a pieces of all the conversations that were centered around his best friend.  
  
"Hey, you a friend of that girl's?" A man asked Mark.  
  
"Chloe? Hell yeah, she's great isn't she?"  
  
The man rolled his eyes. "Not hardly, I don't get what everyone here sees in her. Her music doesn't mean anything at all, she's just your basic teenage-"  
  
"First off, Chloe is 22, and you're crazy saying what you're saying about her, you must be blind. You think that the music she just poured out to you is meaningless?" Mark felt himself getting madder with each passing second. Chloe had had enough trouble in her life, without some idiot stranger bashing the melodies she spent years perfecting.  
  
"Yeah, I do, actually. I'm reviewing this concert, and what I'm writing up about it is, that it was a waste of my time."  
  
"Have you ever actually listened to her music, or are you just worried about your next paycheck? What you really need to do, is to turn off all the lights in your house, lay on your bed, close you eyes, and listen to her. I guarantee you'll wake up with tears in your eyes."  
  
The man started to say something, but Mark cut him off before anything spilled out of his mouth. "Don't insult my friends. Excuse me, but I wanna go congratulate Chloe again on that Amazing set."  
  
Mark turned away from the man to see Chloe behind him. "Who was that?" She asked confused.  
  
"Just...no one."  
  
"Oh." Chloe cut herself off from Mark, and started looking around. She did this every night after a show. Searching for him... And Mark knew very well what she was going to ask next. It was always the same for her every night, like some sick cycle.  
  
"You didn't see anybody...new tonight did you?"  
  
"...Sorry Chlo, Brady still didn't show, at least the guy you described to me as Brady didn't come."  
  
"Brady? What makes you think I was talking about him anyway."  
  
Mark searched her visually, and it was all he needed to do.  
  
"Well, I just can't believe he's never even looked me up!" Chloe said, giving in. "He's never even called me, I bet he never tried to find me either."  
  
"So did you run away just so he would look for you Chloe?" Mark gave up trying to sound calm, and let what he was feeling just come out. It was just so damn frustrating.  
  
"Of course not...and I know it's dumb, but I kinda wanted him to see me graduate.  
  
Mark sighed. "I came."  
  
"I know." Chloe shut herself off again, following her pattern perfectly. "I think I'm going home, I wanna finish packing my stuff, so I can move out really quickly tomorrow."  
  
Mark felt his familiar compassion for Chloe arise again, and his anger slowly faded. "Chloe, you don't have to leave tomorrow, you can stay as long as you want."  
  
"I know, but it feels right after the graduation. Besides, I've stayed with you for almost 5 years straight, I need something new."  
  
"You staying in LA?"  
  
"Maybe, but I really do want to go now, I have a killer headache."  
~  
Chloe walked alone. It wasn't safe, she knew that, it was night, and it was really quite dangerous. It was unseasonably cool for late June in California, and she walked home faster than usual, with a jacket. It was the night. It made everything seem so much colder than it actually was.   
  
The night was so kind. Ending days, giving way to the moon and the stars, even though Chloe hadn't been able to see them since she moved. She still loved the night. The wind whispered her name, and quickened her step. She hated it when she thought she heard something, but she wasn't sure. It was enough to drive a person crazy.  
  
"Chloe."  
  
She stopped in a split second, and looked over her shoulder. There was absolutely nothing there, and she cursed herself for letting the dark that she loved so much scare her. She pushed frightening thoughts away, and started walking again.   
  
"Chloe, stop walking."  
  
Chloe didn't listen this time. She wrapped herself tighter in the light jacket that was all she had ever needed in California. She told herself it was a figment of her imagination, and that she needed to stop drinking so much coffee.  
  
"Chloe, just turn around, I need to talk to you."  
  
"Shut up!" Chloe yelled. Her voice echoed on the sidewalk that suddenly seemed for the very first time, deserted. She shivered again, and realized that her jacket was no longer warm enough. A firm hand gripped her shoulder, and spun her around. She screamed, and kicked at air.  
  
"Stop it you're going to kick me. You're more paranoid than I remembered you."  
  
"Get your hands off of me, whoever you are, I need to go home!"  
  
"Home? Where is it that you're calling home now, Chloe?"  
  
The voice of the man was growing oddly, more familiar by the second. "Brady?" She ventured.  
  
"You need to carry a flashlight with you from now on diva."  
  
Chloe was suddenly outraged. "How dare you come here, and scare the shit out of me like that!"  
  
"Have to talk to you. Didn't want to do it in the coffee house."  
  
"Talk to me? Well it's about fucking time Brady! Ya'know what, thanks for calling me, thanks for coming to my graduation, thanks a whole hell of a lot."  
  
"Your graduation from Julliard? I didn't think you applied there."  
  
"Calling me a failure now? So I didn't go to Julliard, but I went to UCLA, and that's a pretty damn good school."  
  
"Yeah, you're right, it's a great school. So how did the music major go for you?"  
  
"What are you getting at? I didn't major in music, so what. Why don't you answer me Brady?" Chloe turned the tables and stared into his blue eyes, which were suddenly focusing in the night. "Where were you?"  
  
"I did come Chloe, as much as you don't want to believe it. I came, I just couldn't stay."  
  
"That's a nice one Brady. Thought you'd come, and just not say anything to me?"  
  
"I couldn't stay."  
  
"So why can you now?" Chloe pushed him away as hard as she could and turned to face him, extremely frustrated that she hadn't even knocked him down. "You didn't choose me Brady. Whatever makes you happy, I don't care, but you didn't pick me to be the one that was with you, and you still aren't picking me."  
  
"I didn't choose her either, Chloe!" Brady said raising his voice. Slowly the calm, even attitude he had worked so hard to master was failing him.  
  
"Right, so that's where the 'it's her' part came in, right?"  
  
"I never said that, it was you who said it."  
  
"You let me go. You let me stay gone."   
  
"I had to test our love, Chloe."  
  
"Test it? Why?" Chloe's eyes spoke volumes and Brady imediately regreted his comment. "I forgive you for wanting to be with her, I forgive you kissing her or for doing whatever it is you two did, but the fact that you had to test our love...Brady, I would NEVER have to do that, NEVER."  
  
"Chloe, I'm sorry, I really am-"  
  
"And it took you five years Brady. Five." Chloe shook her head in disbelief, and without so much as a goodbye she was walking down the cold, dark street again.  
  
Brady ran both his hands through his hair in anger and frustration. He pointed a solitary finger at her in the dark. "Ya'know Chloe, faith is what you really need right now, and faith is failing you!" He yelled, and then, he was gone too. 


	9. Meant To Be

Last Chapter :D  
~Chelsea_Broefan ;)  
___________  
  
"Dammit!" Chloe screamed. Her voice echoed through the empty house, and bounched off the walls. She swept all her papers off her small table in a single swipe, and they laid on the floor where they sat ripped and tattered. She shook her head, ashamed of herself and picked them all up again.   
  
Wrinting, normaly something that came so eaisly to her was suddenly so much effort. It was so hard to just sit down and write something, because she knew what she would see in what she wrote. Brady, and she didn't want to write about him. She was tired of thinking about him, he took up so much of her time now, and it was exhusting.   
  
She picked up one particularly beat up sheet of song lyrics and spoke to it. "I'm supposed to be packing my stuff right now, ya'know that? Yeah, that's right, packing. Not writing garbage like you. You heard me! You're nothing but garbage!" Chloe caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and she realized that she looked utterly ridiculous. She was in her room with boxes all over the place, still in her PJs, and just to add an extra cherry on top, she was carrying on a conversation with a scrap of paper. "Oh Holy Lord, I'm arguing with my paper," She said aloud. So, for the second time, she pulled all the papers off her desk, this time calmly, and threw them all away.   
  
A door slammed downstairs. Chloe knew that is would be Mark, but her heart never listened to her brain. He heart jumped, thinking that maybe, just maybe Brady got a key, and let himself inside. She peered out of her room, and yelled downstairs. "Mark?"  
  
A cheerful face popped out from behind the stairway. His long, curly, brown locks and wonderfully electric green eyes made it impossible not to grin. "What's the story Morning Glory?"  
  
Chloe stomped down the steps and plopped herself on a chair. "I can't write."  
  
"No? Sorry, I disagree."  
  
"I mean, I can't write what I wanna write." She pulled at a lock of her hair and began examining it. "Idon't wanna talk about this, it wears me out."  
  
Mark shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen. "Thought you weren't gonna be here," He mumbled through his apple.  
  
Chloe dropped the lock of her dark hair, and stumbled to her feet. She walked to the kitchen and leaned against the refrigerator, her face to Mark's back. "Where else would I be?"  
  
Mark turned around and slithered past Chloe. He reached right past her body, and got another apple. "Weren't you leaving today?"  
  
"You didn't think I'd even say goodbye?"  
  
"Nope, I didn't think you would bother with good-byes, Morning Glory. I prepared myself for the day I would come home, only to find that you had disappeared like a cool mist. Just into the air, taking only a few traces of you that you were strong enough to carry, and leaving everything else behind you, to haunt me."  
  
Chloe stood mesmerized, torn between being offended, and being astounded. "Well...I'm going to ignore the insults you stuck in there, that was really beautiful."  
  
"The words? Thanks, they're going in my song, I just wanted to try them out first."  
  
Chloe grinned, any small traces of anger gone. "Just try 'em out?" Mark nodded and licked his fingers. "Ya'know, watching you eat is making me hungry, do we still have spaghetti in there?"  
  
"Yeah, here." Mark handed her the dish and continued searching for more food for himself.  
  
No sooner had he given Chloe the spaghetti, then she took a fist full of it, and hurled it straight at the back of Mark's head.  
  
"I knew it! You just can't contain yourself can you Chloe? You always have to be throwing something at me." Chloe answered by dumping the rest of the food down his back. "So you want a food fight, huh?"  
  
Chloe grinned widely and grabbed another the last hand full of saucy spaghetti. "Only if I win."  
  
"Dream on." In a few seconds, Mark had out the ketchup, the mustard, and anything else he could find in a short amount of time.  
  
Chloe quickly raided the refrigerator again, while Mark tried to remove tomoto sauce from his hair. Everything and anything that was possible to throw was now in her possession. He was faster though. He slid past Chloe and already had left-over mashed potatoes, butter and a loaf of bread, before Chloe could even restock. She screamed and jumped on his back, dumping Jell-O all over his head.   
  
"Chloe, Chloe wait. We're much too old for this."  
  
Chloe still hung on his back, threatening him with a can or soda over his head "Yeah, you're right, I fell like about 10 years old right now." She laughed and took at look at the kitchen. "We're not going to have anything to eat now." She hopped off his back and attempted to pick off any food that still hung to her hair. Behind her back, though, she vigorously shook up her can of Pepsi.  
  
"Ya'know what Morning Glory, I'm really gonna miss living with you."  
  
Chloe laughed. "You're going to miss me spraying you with Pepsi?"  
  
"You never..."   
  
The realization didn't hit fast enough, and soon enough there was Pepsi all over the place. Mark was drenched and the kitchen was a mess. Like a couple of 6th graders just helped themselves to whatever they wanted, and got in a food battle somewhere along the way. He would have stayed to counter-attack, but that second there was a knock on his door. "Go answer the door Chlo," He demanded.  
  
"Me? I can't, I'm still in my PJs, and I'm a mess."  
  
"I'm not a mess? I more messy than you, look at me! I have jell-o in my hair, and only God knows how much speghitti you dumped on me." He laughed. "Come on Chlo, go get the door."  
  
Chloe shot him her best puppy look, though it didn't turn out exactly with a stick of butter jammed on her head, like some idiots idea of a helment. "Please Mark?"  
  
"Ok, ok, I'll go, and you can just stand in here and think about what and idiot I'm looking like, and how it's mostly your fault." Mark started to walk away, his clothes sagging from the heavy load of speghitti he carried in them. "Clean the kitchen, ok?" He yelled.  
  
Chloe looked at him uncomprehendingly. "Clean it? Right now? Wouldn't that take weeks?"  
  
Mark swung open the door and looked his visitor up and down. "You are? Wait, I know you..."  
  
Brady looked beyond Mark. He needed to see Chloe, that was the only reason he was here, and he didn't want to mess around with her friends. He barely seemed to notice the food that covered Mark. "Is Chloe here?"  
  
"Morning Glory? Yeah, she's here, but she's um...working. Who are you anyway? I know I know you."  
  
"I'm Brady, I need to see Chloe, is that possible?"  
  
"Brady?" Mark snarled. "Hell no, there's no way you're coming in. All you've ever done is hurt her, like last night."  
  
"Who do you think you are to tell me where to go?"  
  
"I'm her best friend, leave." Mark slammed the door in Brady's face, turned and walked away, still furious. "Chloe, Brady was just here." It was always better to say things right out than leave them hanging in the air.  
  
"What?" Chloe dropped her tomato sauce soaked rag, and stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Mark. "Well, well did you tell him to get the hell out? She stuttered.  
  
"He's not here is he?"  
  
Chloe ran to him and wrapped him in her arms. "Thank you so much. He is really the last person I want to see or talk to right now." She released him from her grasp. "I always wondered what I would do if I ever saw him again, now I know, I just can't handle it. Chloe picked up her rag and resumed her kitchen-cleaning duties. "You don't mind if I stay here a little longer do you?"  
  
"Stay as long as you want to."  
____________________________  
  
Sleep was painful. Sleep was frightening. Sleep was utterly impossible.  
  
Chloe tossed and turned. Her sheets twisted, and her body drenched in sweat, she tried not to give her nightmares the fear that they fed on. She would drift away for minutes at a time into a peaceful dream that would always, somehow, end horribly. She woke up with a start for the third time that night. Giving up, she pulled herself from her bed and wandered the dark house, like some sleep-deprived angel, haunting the night. A glass of water here five minutes of TV there, and she would finally end up in Mark's room if she was desperate enough for sleep. Like tonight. She tiptoed into his room and crawled under the think quilt beside him. "Sorry," She whispered.  
  
Mark rolled around and touched her face. "Don't be."  
  
Chloe lay awake and listened to Mark's even breathing, and finally she could feel him drift away into sleep again. Chloe closed her eyes and prayed from sleep to come. She probably would rather have stayed awake if she knew what the dreams had in store for her tonight.  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
She was walking down a cold, dark passageway, and she was lost. There was no sky over her head, only a huge black hole. She tried desperately to find her way out of the maze, and suddenly, it was stupid to be lost. Salem came into focus just beyond the opening off the tunnel. She yanked of her raincoat and threw it in the street. She heard her name being called faintly in the distance, and she recognized the vioce that called her. "Brady! I can't find you!" The wind and the rain stole the words from her mouth, and the breath from her lungs. She ran to where she remembered the penthouse and knocked on the door. She was drenched in the tears from the sky and her hair clung wildly to her face and shoulders. Brady came to the door, shocked to see her.  
  
"Chloe! Come in, are you ok?"  
  
"I'm fine, don't say anything else." She pushed him against the wall and kissed him passionately. She wanted to feel every part of his body at once. He was irritable. He tasted so amazing; Chloe wanted that taste in her mouth forever. She fumbled with seemingly endless buttons, but finally gave up and blindly ripped of any clothing that stood in the way of what she wanted. He pressed against her soaking wet body, and he felt her.  
  
"Are you sure this is what you want Chloe?" He whispered against her skin, as though he thought she might say no.  
  
"I thought I told you say not say anything, of course this is what I want."  
  
He pushed her to the floor that wasn't cold or hard at all. Within seconds Chloe was swept away in the most intense passion she had ever felt. Brady let everything about her, her essence, surround him, her long, wet, hair plastering itself to his face and chest.   
  
They were amazing together, perfectly in time and in tune with each other. Chloe discovered soon enough that she was a moaner. It was impossible not to, not to lose herself in such a beautiful person, and impossible to keep it all inside.  
  
True perfection was reached that night, even if only in a dream, a dream that had to end sooner or later.  
  
Dreams have a special, torturous way of hurting those already in intense pain. In her dream she woke up all along, only with a feeling that it was all her fault, the reason she was alone. Fumbled painful thought haunted her dream self. 'You shouldn't have left him, it could be different, you should have looked for him before what happened...You should have talked to him, you should have come back to him, it's all your fault. It could have been different, it's all your fault, it's all your fault, it's all your fault'  
~  
  
Chloe awoke slowly as if whoever had the video camera hit the fade in button. Resisting the urge to scream, Chloe slowly slid from the bed, carefully trying not to awake Mark. Like a dagger through the dark, she smoothly cut through the house and into her room. The boxes had long since been unloaded, and it would have looked like a beautiful place to live and sleep to anyone except Chloe. She packed up everything that mattered, her guitar, some clothes, and, with a clear plan in her mind she gradually increased the distance between her and her old room. She remembered what Mark had said about good-byes, and easily wrote out a long farewell letter in her loopy handwriting.  
  
The only problem with her 'plan' was the fact that time meant absolutely nothing to her, so now, at 3:00am she picked up the phone to make one last phone call while she was in that house. The phone rang endlessly, but the call was a necessity and Chloe would wait as long as it took.  
  
"Hello?" A sleepy female voice finally croaked.  
  
"Belle, I need your brother's address."  
  
"Who is this?"  
  
Chloe paused, realizing how selfish she was being. She hadn't talked to Belle since she left, and now, the only reason she was calling her was for the address of her love. She took a deep breath. "This is Chloe."  
  
Belle was suddenly wide-awake. "Chloe!? Wow-"  
  
"Belle I'm sorry, but I really need to get Brady's address."  
  
"Ok, but-"  
  
"Please Belle!"  
  
"Chloe I really have to tell you that-"  
  
"I don't have time Belle, please."  
  
"Ok..."  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Five days later it was 2:30 in the morning, but Chloe didn't notice. It wasn't like it mattered what time it was, or whether it was day or night, she wasn't sleeping lately. She paid her cab driver to wait for her and stepped into the dark. I was windy and on the verge of rain. Chloe didn't care. She was back in Salem, back where she belonged, to the place she never even should have left. Walking towards his house she took note of nothing. She stared straight ahead and only felt the hungar inside her. She felt numb all over her entire body, and she didn't feel the first tear from fall helplessly from the sky and land on her skin. She didn't see the others that followed, and she didn't feel her hair or body become wet. She didn't even realized she was knocking on the door until it opened, and he stood holding out a towel, as if he expected her.   
  
But the second she saw his face though, feeling rushed back to her body reaching places it never had before like a wave in a hurricane crashing on the shore.  
  
"I got your address, I hope you don't mind. I'm sorry it's so late."  
  
Brady wrapped her in the towel and in his arms. "I wasn't sleeping. Come in, I'll make some coffee, you've got to be freezing."  
  
She wasn't freezing; she wasn't even cold in the least. All she could feel, wrapped up in his arms and in the towel was warm. She wanted to keep that feeling, and she didn't want to lose him again.  
  
"I have something for you...I wanted to give it to you before, but...since I haven't seen you." Brady led Chloe by the hand into the kitchen. He reached to the highest shelf, and pulled down a faded picture. "You probably don't remember this, but I took this picture of you about 6 years ago. I was taking you to the airport, to go on a class trip, and you were so sad Chloe...so sad, do you remember that?" He handed her the picture after a long last look.  
  
"Are you kidding, of course I remember this." She examined the picture, and touched the jagged edges. "I really do look so sad, don't I? Why did you keep this?" Chloe looked up from the picture and searched Brady's eyes. Things didn't seem...the same; they were very different suddenly.  
  
"It started our summer together." He smiled. "I know you remember that, don't you?"  
  
Chloe nodded but thinking about what she had so long ago was painful. She was getting uneasy, the feeling of the huge change hung around the house, in the very air she breathed, and a sinking feeling settled in her stomach.  
  
"You were so sad at the beginning, I wanted to take a picture of us together, just to show you how happy we were, but I never had a camera with me."  
  
"It's ok, I remember how happy I was. You could completely change me around Brady..." Chloe looked around for the first time since walking inside the house, and took notice of her surroundings. Something was out of place, something was wrong, and not knowing what it was, was killing her. "It hasn't changed either," More to she said to reassure herself than anything.  
  
Brady sighed. "Chlo...a lot of things have changed..."  
  
Chloe didn't say anything, she looked around, and subtle things about the house scared her. She began to notice pictures on the walls, things on the floor, photographs and pictures... Chloe caught her breath, her world was spinning, and she felt so faint. She had to stay calm, she couldn't lose it. But losing it would be such a relief...she accepted what she knew now, as fact, and took a deep breath. "What's the name of your daughter?"  
  
Brady looked down. "Adrienne. Adrienne Maye. Maye with an e, Blair said it looked so much more pretty like that."  
  
Chloe cursed herself mentally, this is what Belle was trying to tell her. She felt so stupid, she had just expected to walk in his house, and she expected him to take her back. "How old is she?"  
  
"She's 3. She's why I couldn't stay in LA, why I had to leave. When Blair called me...I'm sorry Chloe, but I coulnd't leave her."  
  
"I know, I understand" She handed him back the picture of her that had been taken so long ago, yet the pain felt fresh. "My cab's waiting, I should go."  
  
"Keep the picture Chloe, I wanted you to have it."   
  
Chloe tucked the picture in her hand and turned to leave. Brady followed her across the room, and out the door. He almost let her go too, almost let her drive away, and almost let her disappear from his life forever. Almost.  
  
  
"Chloe! Come back!" Without a moment's hesitation, Chloe ran as fast as she could straight back into his arms of the man she couldn't live without. She felt like she was a part of him, standing there in the rain wrapped up in him.  
  
For 5 glorious minutes, it lasted. For five minutes, everything was ok; everything was going to work out. Everything was just like it was before. The realization surfaced though, making everything so much more painful. Chloe was the first to speak, the first to break the silence. "You have to go don't you, Brady?"  
  
Brady held her; he wanted to hold that moment for a little longer. "Don't make me say it, Chloe, don't make me leave you, not yet...just a few more seconds."  
  
Chloe broke down in his arms; it was the only place left, where she still felt safe. He was the only thing that held her up. "I love you so much."   
  
"Chloe Lane, you are the most beautiful human being on the face of the earth. I love you more than you'll ever know...but..."  
  
"But you have to go. We both know the ending to this story, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm not noble enough to walk away, I just pray to God that you are."  
  
Brady didn't say anything for a while; he let the seconds of silence pass by, while he held her. They both knew that sooner or later there had to be a last kiss, and so he kissed her. "I need to go home," he whispered, as if afraid that he wouldn't let himself go, if he heard himself say it louder.  
  
Chloe nodded. "I know, go." And then, there was an ending. Chloe turned at left. A slow droning melody hung in the air, and the house, Brady, Blair, and their little girl got farther farther away.  
  
You are the strength  
That keeps me walking  
You are the hope  
That keeps me trusting  
You are the life  
To my soul  
You are my purpose  
You're everything  
You calm the storms  
And you give me rest  
You hold me in your hands  
You won't let me fall  
You steal my heart  
And you take my breath away  
Would you take me in?  
Take me deeper now  
And how can I stand here with you  
And not be moved by you  
Would you tell me how could it be?   
Any better than this  
'Cause you're all I want  
You're all I need  
You're everything  
Everything  
You're all I want  
You're all I need  
You're everything...everything  
  
Chloe began walking, slowly so she could feel everything. She felt the rain falling on her, as it washed away her outer layer and let her break down in the middle of the deserted street. From where she lay, she stared into the black, never-ending pool that was the sky. Even after she closed her eyes, she could still see the moon and every star flashing and blurring before her. She missed them so much. In that state-seeing the sky through closed eyes, she found peace.  
  
She felt sorry for Blair and the little girl. They would be nothing but an obligation, they would be the reason Brady wasn't with his soul mate, and they would have to live with that. She knew that Brady would love the little girl, she knew that without a doubt. He might even learn to love Blair, but he would never love her like he loved Chloe. That type of love, that powerful love, is once in a lifetime. Not that it mattered now, Chloe knew that even though she would never see him again, they would be together constantly. At the blink of an eye, she would be with him. That's the way it was meant to be. They were soul mates, and they were meant to be together...even if they never would be. 


End file.
